Rocking Out
by hooksjollyroger
Summary: During an afternoon home alone, Emma gets hit with a little nostalgia after putting her iPod on shuffle only to be discovered by her son and the pirate.


Silence. It was not something that was common in Emma Swan's life anymore. Ever since she came to Storybrooke - she couldn't believe that was almost three years ago already - and found her family and Killian, her life had not been as quiet as it was before. Not that she complained though; she wouldn't give up her life now for anything. But every once in a while, Emma missed that feeling of solitude.

She moved around the kitchen putting away the last of the freshly cleaned dishes. Folding up the dish towel, Emma surveyed the room to make sure she didn't miss any; it seemed she had gotten them all. She stood at the counter for a moment thinking of what she should do next. Killian had taken Henry to the Jolly Roger for his latest sailing lesson. Snow and Dav- no, Mom and Dad - were out house hunting since it was getting far too crowded in the apartment now that Killian had basically moved in.

Though she was tempted to just go plop her butt on the couch and take a nap, Emma knew she should probably tidy up Killian's and her bedroom. She walked up the stairs and spotted her iPod sitting on her vanity. A little music always made cleaning a bit more fun so she picked up the player and put it on the dock and pressed play, allowing the device to surprise her with the song choice.

The music started blaring and a smile immediately fell on Emma's face when the tune hit her ears: Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket". The lyrics rolled off her tongue as if it were 1995 again and her twelve-year-old self was riding in the back seat of her foster sister's car. Emma didn't have many happy memories with this family - she didn't have many happy memories with any of her foster families - but this was one and she hadn't thought about it in a long time. She sang along thinking to herself how she had never pictured herself with the family she had now, but Emma wouldn't change anything about it.

As the music from the first song faded away, Emma made to start picking up the scattered clothes on the floor, but then the next song started playing. Apparently her iPod was feeling nostalgic this afternoon. The laughter of the Spice Girls rang in the room as they started telling her what they wanted, what they really, really wanted.

Unable to resist, Emma picked up her hairbrush, transforming it into the microphone it secretly desired to be, and began dancing around the room. She could vividly picture the club she had snuck into that night as the music video for "Wannabe" played on the televisions scattered throughout. That had been a good night, though, looking back now, a very irresponsible one filled with lots of alcohol and men she couldn't remember the names of.

Emma, completely forgoing her original plan to clean the bedroom, continued to have her own personal concert, reliving her extremely unorthodox childhood as each song came through the speakers. Music was one of very few brights spots amidst the dark cloud of Emma's past and it was not something she dwelled in often, but today was just one of those days.

Unbeknownst to her, Killian and Henry walked in the door about an hour into her jam session. The two of them immediately paused when they heard Emma belting out the current song playing from her iPod.

"Is... is that my mom? _Singing_?" Henry asked looking up at Killian completely dumbfounded.

Killian's face curled into a smile; though he had sang many times for Emma, she had always refused to let him hear her.

"Aye, lad, that is it," Killian confirmed. He looked down at the boy and raised his finger to his lips, signaling for Henry to be quiet. Gesturing for him to follow, Killian tip-toed over to the stairs, climbing them as slowly and silently as possible. This was a side to Emma Swan he had been pining to see.

The two boys reached the top of the stairs and peered surreptitiously around the corner into the bedroom. Emma, her back turned to them, was rocking out, hairbrush still in hand, and moving sharply, pumping her fist routinely into the air. Killian and Henry sat down on the top step continuing to observe the very amusing and surprising display in front of them.

Emma, still blatantly unaware of the presence behind her, belted out the lyrics.

"Might sound crazy but it ain't no lie, bye bye bye, BYE BYE!"

She leaped in the air one more time and pumped up her fist conclusively as the last notes faded away.

Killian and Henry began applauding, causing Emma to jump. Her face instantly turned cherry red and hot as she whipped around to see her two boys grinning profusely at the embarrassing display they had just witnessed.

"What the hell?" Emma shouted, throwing down her hairbrush and pressing pause on the iPod as the first notes of the next song began to play. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Long enough," Henry said. "Nice moves, Mom."

Killian ruffled Henry's hair and looked up at Emma. "That was quite the show, lass," he teased giving her a quick wink.

Emma pressed her still very flush and warm face into her hands out of pure humiliation and laughed. "I'm shocked I still remember the routine," she said rubbing her hands down her cheeks in an attempt to get them back to a normal color.

"Well, they were really impressive, love." His stupid grin had still not left his face instinctively causing Emma to lay a nice, big kiss on his lips in an attempt to get rid of it.

Henry coughed pointedly to let them know he was still in the room.

"Sorry, kid," Emma chuckled, breaking away from Killian.

"What was that song you were listening to anyways?" Henry asked. "That wasn't the Jonas Brothers, was it?" He eyed her suspiciously.

His comment made Emma feel older than dirt. She looked at her son and then Killian, realizing neither of them knew much of anything about the music world except the crap that was played on the radio nowadays. This was something that needed immediate correcting. If she was going to call them family, they damn well were going to know about every music legend in the history of this world.

"Sit down you two," Emma instructed. "I'm going to teach you boys a lesson."

Killian raised his eyebrow. "A lesson? About what?"

"Music." She started scrolling through the library on her iPod.

"But I already know plenty of music," Henry said slowly.

Emma glanced at her son. "Do either of you know who the Rolling Stones are?" Both Henry and Killian shook their heads. "Didn't think so," she continued. "Sit."

The two of them did as she told them and sat down on the bed peering up at their instructor.

"Now," Emma said turning on the iPod and facing her two boys, "let's start with a little band called The Beatles..."


End file.
